Ring The Alarm! The Right To TeleHealth For Abortion May Be Over [Op-Ed]

On Wednesday, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit heard oral arguments in Louisiana v. U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), a lawsuit that seeks to ban using telehealth for abortions —both in states where abortion is presently illegal AND where it’s legal. 

And it’s state versus state again, harkening back to a big bad time for our nation.

And though I am not saying abortion access is like enslavement (though there is the thread of bodily autonomy running through both), this reminds me of the Dred Scott v. Sandford (1857) decision, which laid bare the tension between states where Black people were free and the states where we were not. Eerily, these same eventual Confederate states are the very same ones where abortion is totally illegal, or limited to six weeks, save Virginia. 

As it now stands, medication abortion is approved by the FDA for use before 11 weeks of pregnancy. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the FDA began allowing the “abortion pill” mifepristone to be prescribed through telehealth and sent to patients in the mail. That became official policy in 2023, reports NPR. 

A patient can have an ultrasound and then consult with a doctor by telehealth, who will then prescribe mifepristone to be sent to their home, or they can pick it up from a clinic or pharmacy. 

In short, Louisiana is arguing that telemedicine for abortion circumvents state bans on abortion. 

NPR reports: 

A patient in Louisiana, which has a strict abortion ban, can consult over telehealth with a doctor in a state with a shield law, like Colorado, and have abortion medications shipped in the mail right to their door.

That’s why anti-abortion rights groups have filed several lawsuits to stop telehealth abortion access nationally; the states of Florida, Idaho, Kansas, Missouri, and Texas also filed similar suits, reports Politico.

Conversely, if Louisiana, which bans abortions, wins this appeal, Colorado will not be able to use telehealth for medical abortions, seriously curbing access to the procedure nationwide. 

Abortion foes — who were crowing when Roe v. Wade fell as the federal law of the land — said they wanted “states to decide” how to deal with abortion. Many of them (those ole Confederate states again) did, and decided on total abortion bans, but now, as Politico reports, “many of the same conservatives who called for returning the issue to the states are now furious that the total number of abortions has increased, largely due to telehealth…”

Pro-Abortion Group, Reproductive Freedom for All released a statement on Sept. 9:

“[I]f Louisiana succeeds, patients could be forced to travel—sometimes hundreds of miles—to pick up their medication in person, with especially harmful consequences for people in rural communities, low income people, and anyone who already faces barriers to care.”

The organization reports that medication abortion accounts for two-thirds of abortions in the United States, and nearly one-third of abortion patients receive care through telehealth. CNN notes that medication abortion has increased since the 2022’s Supreme Court decision to overturn Roe.

California Attorney General Rob Bonta and Democratic attorneys general of 21 other states and the District of Columbia submitted a friend-of-the-court brief arguing that Louisiana’s lawsuit “improperly elevates the policy preferences of states that have banned or restricted abortion over the preferences of other States that have made the different but equally sovereign determinations to promote access to abortion care.”

AG Bonta said plainly:  “I think Roe v. Wade should be the rule, but it’s not, and we accept that. But don’t reach into our state and try to impose restrictions.”

Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill told a Senate committee in January why she wants the law to change. “Until then, Louisiana’s efforts to protect mothers and their unborn children and to hold out-of-state abortion pill traffickers accountable for the harm they inflict will be all but futile,” she said, per CNN.

Where shall we land? 

SEE ALSO:

US Supreme Court Pauses Lower Court Ruling On Abortion Pill Mail Ban

From Exam Room To Crime Scene: When The State Forces Birth But Abandons Life